If you’re looking for a way to brighten up your living room or even your kitchen, Philips Hue’s Lights trips are an excellent option. When cutting the Lights trips, I needed to know precisely how many packs I’d need so that I could plan accordingly.
As far as I know, the ‘V4’ Lights trips can be used to cut them, but how can you connect and reuse a single pack? Before I installed smart lights in my kitchen, I wanted to learn more about this topic.
Only Philips Hue Lightstrip Plus V4 versions may be ‘officially’ re-attached after cutting (every 13′′/33cm). Third-party connections such as Litcessory’s may also be used.
Overview of Philips Hue Lights trips
Philips Hue’s smart LED light strips – the Hue Lightstrip line – was always a part of the future of LED lighting in the home.
It is possible to put them in a wide variety of locations, including:
- Behind the TV, to create some great mood lighting effects. To sync the light strips, you can use HueSync, although this depends on the light strip type and how you use your TV to play content.
- Underneath counters and shelves a kitchen, this is very important for creating a pleasant atmosphere.
- Around desks (such as computer desks) allow you to ‘set the mood’ of whatever you’re doing/watching—having fun with a desert-themed PC title? Lights trips should be set to a yellow-orange hue. Are you watching Frozen? Turn on the blue or white light strips.
- Around the ceiling, where there’s coving or cornices. Make a space stand out and give some wonderful illumination, particularly at night when you may wish to mimic sunset with subdued, yellow light.
- In the video below, you can see how Hue light strips may be utilized over a door:
There have been four major generations of the interior Lightstrip throughout the years, which Hue refers to as aversions. There is a “Lightstrip Plus” indoor version of the Lightstrip.
Outdoor light strip and Hue Lightstrip Play Development over time models are also available, as is a type that stands while behind TV and mimics the screen’s hue.
All Hue light strips are fundamentally powered by being hooked into a wall socket, which I’ll go into more detail about later.
Different Generations/Versions of the Hue Lights trips
Hue light strips may be divided into three primary categories:
- Philips Hue Lightstrip Plus, which may be used inside.
- Philips Hue Outdoor Lightstrip, which is weatherproof to IP67 and may be installed outside.
- Panasonic Hue Play Gradient Lightstrip is a new line of ‘behind-the-TV’ light strips released in September 2020.
Both the outdoor light strip and the Play Multicolor light strip are in their initial iteration. The interior Lightstrip versions, on the other hand, have gone through many iterations:
Released between 2012 and 2013: Hue Lightstrip
- Lightstrip Plus V2 – launched in 2015, with 1,600 lumens, a significant upgrade over the previous light strip.
- It was introduced in 2017 as a design update for the Hue Lightstrip Plus V3.
- A new Hue Lightstrip Plus V4 will allow you to reuse cut components on some of the other Hue light strips when it launched in June 2020.
- Only the indoor Plus V4 model is officially supported for cutting and re-assembly of Hue Lights trips, which are all flexible.
Since Hue light strips have always been popular, third-party solutions exist for some of the other models covered in the concluding section.
Bending Philips Hue Lights trips
If your light strips aren’t laid out in a straight line, you’ll have to bend these at some point. As a result, they may round a nook and cranny among both two non – parallel surfaces (such as a wall or a street kitchen cabinet), traverse an oval-shaped surface, or even be run around portions of your workstation.
Because they’re constructed of a bendy rubber/silicone substance, Chromaticity Lights trips (or LED light strands in general) may be bent to a mild angle if desired.
But whenever you need to create a 90° angle bend, you have two basic choices to choose from:
Option 1: Bend the strip directly
As long as you can bend the strip without damaging it, it’s the most efficient way of doing this. Reclining where there have been solder connections, light diodes, or resistors is not recommended:
The ‘cut here’ indications on Hue Lights trips make it easy to bend the strips.
Because too many LEDs will be concentrated in one corner of the light strip, it is important to ensure that you have already not bent the light strip so that it forms a hump in the corner.
Because it’s a 90-degree corner, the easiest method to bend this strip is 45 degrees in the opposite direction of what you’d like it bent. Then, bend it back in the opposite direction.
Option 2: buy a corner joint
It is possible to acquire a “corner connection” from a third party if the preceding procedure fails for whatever reason. The corner connectors are used to re-attach the two segments at the cut intervals.
Even though it’s a little unpleasant to buy additional connections, this approach may provide a better overall appearance than method 1.
Cutting then reusing/re-attaching Hue Lights trips
It’s likely that whenever you need to cut the Chromaticity Lights trips Plus because you have a break in your planned run, you’ll want to s the offcut at some point in the future.
If the Premium V4 model launched in mid-2020 permits reusing offcuts, then it’s a fantastic feature. Well…
As you can see, it’s not that easy. In the first place, the Chromaticity light strips can only be cut every 13′′ (33cm), which is a greater distance than almost all of their competitors:
Because of this, your main (useful) strip may be shorter in length than you expected – and the same is true for your offcut strip.
You may, however, only use the provided connection to connect your offcut to some other Lightstrip Plus V4 kit.
For the cut-off end to be joined to another kit, it must be powered and run via a ZigBee management (remember that the Hue light strips’ talks’ ZigBee, hence there must be a Hue Lightstrip controller). It’s a pity you can’t purchase the Hue controller on its own.
For the official cutting function of the V4 light strips, you’ll need to purchase two light strip packs, which will set you back a total of $150. A single pack of Hue Lights trips would be plenty for a 40-inch (1 meter) run, but the offcut couldn’t be utilized inside purchasing a second pack.
This might become quite expensive, particularly if you want one 40-inch (1 meter) run, followed by a 20-inch (50cm) run (with a separate controller and power device).
Is there a way out of this situation? What about the V2/V3 light strips, then? Fortunately, Litcessory adapters allow you to cut and reuse offcuts. You may also save money by connecting a trimmed component to the Hue enhanced version kits and continuing on your way.
Other businesses’ adapters can be used, but Litcessory’s are the most common, and you can get them from their website or Amazon, so I figured I’d talk about them here.
Using Litcessory to re-attach and split Philips Hue Lights trips
Lightstrip Plus and extension kits from Litcessory may be used to install connected light strips to the accompanying segments of my kitchen:
The entire length is a little less than a 3.7-meter (145-inch) run, but there is space for the dishwasher. Philips Hue Lights trips may be installed in two ways. I have two options:
- Hue Lightstrip Plus kits (about $150 each) may be purchased for the left and right sides of the room.
- a $20 Hue Lightstrip Plus Outgrowth kit expands the right-hand region run since the original kit is just 78 inches long (2m).
- This alternative might cost me up to $170 and result in a significant volume of garbage on the left-hand run, which is 24′′ long (60cm)
If it doesn’t work, I could always buy:
I can use a single Hue Lightstrip Plus kit (about $75) on the right side. There will be a total of two Hue Lightstrip Plus extension kits (about $40 each) installed on each side to extend the run.
It costs $30 to buy two Litcessory “controllers to six-pin” Litcessory connections. It costs $15 for one Litcessory splitter. It costs $160 and saves the waste of Hue Lights trips, but three more connections mean more ‘waste’ in terms of resources.
One of the most difficult questions to answer. Neither of them is a good choice. Their blog article provides a thorough explanation when it comes to why I’d need three Litcessory connections. Still, in general, the Litcessory splitter must be linked to the Hue controller through a “controller to 6 pins.”
In this scenario, accessory connections aren’t worth it; I’d rather pay a few more dollars and purchase two independent Hue light sets. Of course, this means they’ll all operate independently, which is a fault in and of itself.
You may use Litcessory connections to get around this, which joins all Hue light strips to a common Hue controller. Only 33 foot/10 meters of Hue light strips (to a single controller) need to be used in total.
Best Seller List of Philips Hue Light Strips:
- WHAT’S IN THE BOX - Includes one 6-feet, color-changing single-color effect light strip plus base kit with one plug; Perfect for mood lighting anywhere in your home - from bedrooms to living rooms
- UNLOCK THE FULL POWER OF HUE - Add a Hue Bridge to enjoy automations, control from anywhere in the world, and a secure, stable connection that won’t drain your Wi-Fi. Use Matter to connect your smart home devices to your Hue smart lighting system.
- MILLIONS OF COLORS - These light strips produce a single color light effect. It can dim, brighten, and set the mood instantly with millions of colors, straight out of the box.
- VOICE CONTROL - Convenient smart control; Set up voice control in the Hue app and use simple voice commands to control your lights with Alexa or Google Assistant
- SET UP - Attach the light strips to cabinets, behind or under furniture, or wherever your imagination desires. The included mounts let you bend it easily around corners.
- WHAT’S IN THE BOX - Includes one 6-feet, White and Color Ambiance light strip base kit with one plug; Perfect for mood lighting anywhere in your home - from bedrooms to living rooms.
- UNLOCK THE FULL POWER OF HUE - Add a Hue Bridge to enjoy automations, control from anywhere in the world, and a secure, stable connection that won’t drain your Wi-Fi. Use Matter to connect your smart home devices to your Hue smart lighting system.
- MILLIONS OF COLORS - Seamless blend of multicolor light in a single LED strip. Silicone sleeve has a matte, milky white finish that diffuses the light to create ambiance for every mood with no harsh reflections.
- VOICE CONTROL - Convenient smart control; Set up voice control in the Hue app and use simple voice commands to control your lights with Alexa or Google Assistant
- SET UP - Attach the light strips to cabinets, behind or under furniture, or anywhere you can imagine. The included mounts let you bend it easily around corners. Extend up to 33-feet with Hue gradient ambiance light strip extensions, sold separately.
- WHAT’S IN THE BOX - Includes one 3-feet, color-changing single color effect light strip plus extension; Perfect for mood lighting anywhere in your home - from bedrooms to living rooms
- UNLOCK THE FULL POWER OF HUE - Add a Hue Bridge to enjoy automations, control from anywhere in the world, and a secure, stable connection that won’t drain your Wi-Fi. Use Matter to connect your smart home devices to your Hue smart lighting system.
- MILLIONS OF COLORS - These light strips produce a single color light effect. It can dim, brighten, and set the mood instantly with millions of colors, straight out of the box.
- VOICE CONTROL - Convenient smart control; Set up voice control in the Hue app and use simple voice commands to control your lights with Alexa or Google Assistant
- SET UP - Attach the light strips to cabinets, behind or under furniture, or wherever your imagination desires. The included mounts let you bend it easily around corners.
- WHAT’S IN THE BOX - Includes two 6-feet, color-changing single color effect light strips, plus base kits with two plugs; perfect for mood lighting anywhere in your home - from bedrooms to living rooms
- MILLIONS OF COLORS - These light strips produce a single color light effect. They can dim, brighten, and set the mood instantly with millions of colors, straight out of the box
- WHAT’S IN THE BOX - Includes one White and Color Ambiance 55" TV smart led light strip with mounting brackets designed for use on 55 inch TVs; Perfect for immersive gaming and TV watching experiences
- REQUIRES A HUE BRIDGE AND SYNC BOX - In order to have your TV light strip and light play bars sync with movies, music or gaming, a Hue bridge and sync box are required (both sold separately)
- MILLION OF COLORS - The White and Color Ambiance range offers both warm-to-cool white and millions of colors straights out of the box.
- VOICE CONTROL - Convenient smart control; Set up voice control in the Hue app and use simple voice commands to control your lights with Alexa or Google Assistant
- SET UP - Attach TV light strip to the back of your TV with the included mounts, which let you bend it easily around corners.
- SYNC with PC: With the Hue Hub, you are now able to sync your Hue lightstrip to your PC. Simply set up the bridge, download the Hue Sync Software on your PC, and create an entertainment area.
- STREAMLINE MUSIC TO YOUR LIGHTS: Using your PC, you are now able to wirelessly sync your lights to music without a Sync Box. Simply setup the lights anywhere you'd like, download the Hue Sync Software, and connect to your Hub. If you'd like to sync with your TV, Sync Box is required.
- HASSLE-FREE CONNECTIVITY: These smart lightstrips are bluetooth-enabled and simple to connect. Control up to 50 smart lights on 1 Hue Hub without clogging up your Wi-Fi network.
- HOW TO USE: Install the flexible Bluetooth LightStrip under bars, bed frames, or cabinets, with the included adhesive tape. Trim it to the perfect size with the included cut marks. Connect up to 32 feet of extension per base kit.
- WHAT’S IN THE BOX - Includes one 3-feet, White and Color Ambiance light strip extension, requires gradient ambiance base kit, sold separately; Perfect for mood lighting anywhere in your home - from bedrooms to living rooms.
- UNLOCK THE FULL POWER OF HUE - Add a Hue Bridge to enjoy automations, control from anywhere in the world, and a secure, stable connection that won’t drain your Wi-Fi. Use Matter to connect your smart home devices to your Hue smart lighting system.
- MILLIONS OF COLORS - Seamless blend of multicolor light in a single LED strip. Silicone sleeve has a matte, milky white finish that diffuses the light to create ambiance for every mood with no harsh reflections.
- VOICE CONTROL - Convenient smart control; Set up voice control in the Hue app and use simple voice commands to control your lights with Alexa or Google Assistant
- SET UP - Attach the light strips to cabinets, behind or under furniture, or anywhere you can imagine. The included mounts let you bend it easily around corners. Extend up to 33-feet with Hue gradient ambiance light strip extensions, sold separately.
- WHAT’S IN THE BOX - Includes one 7-foot Philips Hue color-changing outdoor light strip and 1 power supply 40W; Perfect for lighting railings, stairs, paths, landscaping, and balconies
- REQUIRES A HUE BRIDGE - Unlock the power of Hue and enjoy automations, control from anywhere in the world, and a secure, stable connection that won’t drain your Wi-Fi. Use Matter to connect your smart home devices to your Hue smart lighting system.
- MILLIONS OF COLORS - Paint your outdoors with 16 million colors; unwind with warm to cool white light; illuminate any outdoor space
- VOICE CONTROL - Convenient smart control; Set up voice control in the Hue app and use simple voice commands to control your lights with Alexa or Google Assistant
- SET UP - Plug-and-play solution involves minimal effort; no electrician required - simply plug it in to your outdoor socket
- WHAT’S IN THE BOX - Includes two 6-feet, gradient ambiance multicolor light strip base kits with two plugs; Perfect for mood lighting anywhere in your home—from bedrooms to living rooms
- UNLOCK THE FULL POWER OF HUE - Add a Hue Bridge to enjoy automations, control from anywhere in the world, and a secure, stable connection that won’t drain your Wi-Fi. Use Matter to connect your smart home devices to your Hue smart lighting system.
- MILLIONS OF COLORS - Seamless blend of multicolor light in a single LED strip. Silicone sleeve has a matte, milky white finish that diffuses the light to create ambiance for every mood with no harsh reflections.
- VOICE CONTROL - Convenient smart control; Set up voice control in the Hue app and use simple voice commands to control your lights with Alexa or Google Assistant
- SET UP - Attach the light strips to cabinets, behind or under furniture, or anywhere you can imagine. The included mounts let you bend it easily around corners. Extend up to 33-feet with Hue gradient ambiance light strip extensions, sold separately.
- WHAT’S IN THE BOX - Includes two White and Color Ambiance smart LED play light bar base kit with plug; Perfect for immersive gaming and TV watching experiences
- REQUIRES A HUE BRIDGE - Unlock the power of Hue and enjoy automations, control from anywhere in the world, and a secure, stable connection that won’t drain your Wi-Fi. Use Matter to connect your smart home devices to your Hue smart lighting system.
- MILLIONS OF COLORS - The White and Color Ambiance range offers both warm-to-cool white and millions of colors straight out of the box. This smart LED light bar can dim, brighten, and set the mood instantly.
- ULTIMATE TV LIGHTING EXPERIENCE - Create epic backlight for your TV; Just mount play bar behind your screen using the clips and double sided tape included in the pack, and enhance your viewing experience with splashes of light surrounding your TV
- VOICE CONTROL - Convenient smart control; Set up voice control in the Hue app and use simple voice commands to control your lights with Alexa or Google Assistant
Last update on 2024-04-19
